Real Madrid have reportedly started talks with Manchester City for the signature of Rodri. The World Cup winner wants a move back to his native Spain and has already informed Manchester City.
Real Madrid want to get the Rodri deal done quickly as they hope to recapture the La Liga title this season and also challenge properly for the Champions League after going two seasons without a major trophy. While Madrid and Rodri look like the perfect match, when exactly will too many stars in that Real Madrid team prevent them from gelling cohesively as a team?
The Spanish giants have signed Chelsea’s Cucurella, who is a star in his own right. Denzel Dumfries and Trent Alexander-Arnold occupy the right-back position. Then in midfield and attack, Real Madrid will have Rodri, Bellingham, Valverde, Rodrygo, Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius, and Yan Diomande if the deal goes through.
Although Real have always been known as the place where stars go to achieve bigger things, many Real Madrid teams have flattered to deceive over the years partly because the team had too many big names and not enough “smaller egos” who sacrifice more for the bigger players to shine.
Arguably, the best Real Madrid side ever had players in key positions who sacrificed and ran so that the big stars could do their thing in attack.
The Real Madrid team that won the Champions League three times in a row had the likes of Carvajal, Casemiro, Varane, Lucas Vázquez, Nacho, and more. These players ran for the team so players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, and Bale could do damage in attack.
The closest team to that Real Madrid side has been the recent double UCL champions, Paris Saint-Germain, who also dropped the concept of accumulating big egos and big names for young, hungry players with lesser egos. And since PSG adopted a more grounded style in their squad building, they have dominated Europe with a group of players that truly work for each other.
While Rodri is a big addition to any team in the world, and his quality can never be questioned, Real Madrid need to sell some stars to balance the weight of egos in their squad so they do not become a cluster of underperforming Galácticos, especially with a manager as volatile as Jose Mourinho.
